The future of library services in three visualisations

The Library of the Future is a place where people, not books, not even information, are at the centre.

Princeton based KSS Architects has published its thoughts on three basic principles of academic library design for the future library.

'Through technology-rich amenities... and a mixed-use approach to learning that incorporates everything from entrepreneurship and makerspaces to flipped classrooms and nap pods, library services of the future will meet people where they are .'

'By relocating materials off-campus and using that heart-of-campus real estate to provide spaces for interaction, libraries can offer an entirely new level of service.'

The implication of these first two principles is the need to preserve, locate and access the library's assets. Using a case study of the consolidation of two collections at Emory and Georgia Tech, KSS illustrates how it tackled the creation of a combined Library Service Centre and how this works.